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News Briefs 02-09-2008

By red pill junkieon

Oops! I just received a short message that our friend Jameske went out to fight Crime & Injustice, so here I am giving you a quick fix of news in his place:

Thanks, Kat & Rick

Quote of the Day:

“Materialism is a philosophical position, affirming that nothing exists beyond “matter,” that which we can experience with our senses. I would say that science is methodologically materialist: it can deal only with the world of matter. But it is not philosophically materialist; it does not imply that nothing can exist beyond what we experience with our senses, as religion requires. One can accept scientific principles and also hold religious beliefs.”

Francisco Ayala, professor of Biology and Philosophy at the University of California, Irvine (For more information about the National Academy of Sciences/Institute of Medicine report, “Science, Evolution, and Creationism,” visit www.nap.edu/sec.)

red pill junkie
Agnostic gnostic, walking conundrum & metaphysical oxymoron (with emphasis in the 'moron' part), the mysterious RPJ leaves a double life: By day he serves as Grand Master of the International Sacred Order of Lucha Libre, but at night he pursues his life-long study of everything considered mysterious and/or 'paranormal' --a term he personally detests... When he's not exploring the web looking for his daily fix of Forteana, he can be found blogging, doodling, fooling around and offering his services as news administrator and writer at The Daily Grail. He also regularly participates in other websites and podcasts like Radio Misterioso and Where Did the Road Go? He impatiently awaits for the return of the mothership in Mexico City. absurdbydesign.com
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6 Comments

  1. Glued cars
    I always had the impression whenever I bought a GM truck that they were indeed assembled with glue. Well, maybe they weren’t glued right off the dealer’s lots, but when I was finished with them, they sure had lots of glue and silicone in them things 🙂

    1. glued cars
      Apparently many people are not familiar with the Trabant line of cars out of the GDR (East Germany). The were basically made from cardboard, and glued together.

      The wikipedia article I linked to said that one selling point was that it was fast. This means 0-100 km/h (about 60 mph) in a mere 21 seconds. I have seen some of these on the road, that 21 secs must have been down a steep hill. But it may have felt scary fast in a cardboard box 🙂

      —-
      It is not how fast you go
      it is when you get there.

      1. Not a bad idea, actually
        Composites made with fiberglass or other matrix materials to which an epoxy resin can be cast is not a bad a idea for an automobile. It is the same principle used in carbon fiber, and with that you can create the most advanced and fastest cars in the world.

        During college a Physics teacher told us about a brazilian company that built cars with a composite that used banana leaves. It may not be as efficient or strong as carbon, but it was sustainable and durable.

        A composite auto bodywork also makes more sense than a metal one because you can directly cast a color to the polymer, instead of applying several coats of paint to the metal, which adds costs and needs more maintenance.

        So I don’t have a problem with a car made out of plastic, as long as it’s efficient and safe enough. I think the worst problem with these cute german cars was their 2-stroke engine: Messy, noisy, inefficient and polluting as hell.

        —–
        It’s not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me…
        It’s all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!

        Red Pill Junkie

        1. basic transportation
          Of course the choice of materials is not that important, as long as they work to the requirements. Less weight is better, less strength is worse. Plastics can be very good materials indeed.

          High performance is not necessary, but decent performance is a safety factor. Not being able to accelerate is dangerous, it is basically the same as not having brakes – if you cannot change the speed you are going at, you can be trapped in dangerous traffic situations.

          The problem with the Trabant was not really that it was not metal. There have been cars with epoxy-composite bodies. Cars like that were good in the early years. Very basic transportation is better than no transportation. A Fiat 500 was faster and cheaper than a mule. A Trabant was faster, but not cheaper than a mule.

          You could double the resale value of a Trabant by putting a banana on the back seat.

          So yes you can make good transportation machines, cars or something else, with not much metal. But you should do it correctly.

          —-
          It is not how fast you go
          it is when you get there.

          1. FIAT 500
            The people at Fiat released an Anniversary edition of the 500 model, which is really a beauty. But I think they forgot the concept behind the car’s antecessor. As you wrote, the original 500 was a cheap and reliable car; the possibility that the masses could transport themselves freely. This new 500 is so expensive that only serious collectors would be interested in buying it. It’s a shame really 🙁

            —–
            It’s not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me…
            It’s all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!

            Red Pill Junkie

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